11 March 2026 6:30 PM-8:00PM EST
This month, in addition to our normal chapter business, we’ll be hearing from a special guest, Mr. Michael J. Vinarcik, P.E., ESEP-Acq, Director and Mission, Systems, and Lifecycle Engineering Capability Lead in SAIC’s Solutions and Technology Group.
Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 Agenda: 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm Chapter Business Meeting 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm Mr. Michael J. Vinarcik, P.E., ESEP-Acq – The Zombie Apocalypse in Systems Engineering
Abstract: A 2017 video, The Zombie Apocalypse in Systems Engineering, explored the costs of bad modeling. The author will expand upon those concepts and discuss how digital engineering (DE) transformation efforts are at risk if organizations do not actively seek out and suppress zombies…those individuals and practices that shamble around in a semblance of life but actively harm their environment. Common types of DE Zombies will be classified, and ways to mitigate or eliminate them will be shared…so organizations can avoid an apocalyptic collapse of their DE transformation.
Bio: Digital Engineer, Senior Manager, SAIC Innovation Factory
Michael J. Vinarcik, P.E., ESEP-Acq, is a Director (and Mission, Systems, and Lifecycle Engineering Capability Lead) in SAIC’s Solutions and Technology Group, an adjunct professor at the University of Detroit Mercy, and CIDESI (Mexico). He has over thirty-five years of automotive and defense engineering experience and presents regularly at national and regional conferences. Michael has contributed to several books, most notably to Taguchi’s Quality Engineering Handbook and to the MBSE chapter in the third edition of Systems Engineering: Principles and Practice. He is the President of the INCOSE Michigan Chapter, a member of the INCOSE Certification Advisory Group, and the Treasurer of the INCOSE Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Engineering Society of Detroit, the President and Founder of Sigma Theta Mu, the systems honor society.